2008 Fall TV Schedules - When are your favorites Returning???

[AlexLoup]

Life on Mars... are they kidding?

I'm dying inside.

[Mr Ness]

Monday
8:00 - Chuck (NBC), Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles (Fox)
8:30 - How I Met Your Mother (CBS)
9:00 - Heroes (NBC)
9:30 - Samantha Who (ABC)

Tuesday
9:00 - Fringe (Fox)
10:00 - Eli Stone (ABC)

Wednesday
8:00 - Pushing Daisies (ABC)
10:00 - Dirty Sexy Money

Thursday
8:00 - Ugly Betty (ABC)
9:00 - The Office (NBC)
9:30 - 30 Rock (NBC)
10:00 - Life on Mars (ABC)

Friday
8:00 - Crusoe (NBC)

Sunday
9:00 - Desperate Housewives (ABC)
10:00 - Brothers & Sisters (ABC)


There's what I'm planning on watching, at least for the start. Usually I drop a few shows over the course of the fall, and then pick up a whole bunch more at midseason.

Overall, this is the lack-luster Fall lineup we expected after the WGA strike. Only a handful of new shows, most of which look uninteresting. By far Fox and ABC had the best development season, with only the one of each of their promising new shows appearing on the Fall line-up (Fringe, Life on Mars). Overall, ABC has more depth for the mid-season (Cupid, Good Behavior, Captain Cook's Extrodinary Atlas, Prince of Motor City), whereas Fox has one show left up its sleeve: Dollhouse. CBS continued its impressive streak of premiering several derivative and unfunny sitcoms (see: Two and a Half Men, Rules of Engagement), while NBC didn't even bother trying this year.

Some Highlights (this might be long):

Mondays: Terminator really surprised me last season as a mid-season replacement. I normally would not have tried the series out (didn't particularly enjoy the movies), but the WGA strike left me with few other options last January. Overall, an under-rated action-adventure show with much more interesting and engaging story arcs and characters than 24, while still maintaining the latter's great action sequences.

Heroes on the other hand, pretty much kept me watching last season solely because of Kristen Bell. This season, I'm only hanging on until the first story misstep, and then I'm gone. I would normally be much more forgiving of a show (see: Desperate Housewives), but Heroes has managed to ruin every decent idea they've had, while engaging in redundant and uninteresting character excursions.

Tuesdays: From the small bits I've seen/heard Fringe looks like the next X-Files, albeit with a more competent Executive Producer than the latter series had. Eli Stone managed to turn what could have been an absurdly unwatchable show (and it was for the first two episodes last spring) into an engaging, if bubble-gum light, hour of television.

Wednesdays: Both Pushing Daisies and Dirty Sexy Money had stellar first seasons, and I'm absolutely stoked to see where they go next, especially the former as it was the best new show last fall.

Thursdays: Ah Thursdays, how you overwork my DVR. Ugly Betty faltered some last season, but with their new creative infusions, I'm optimistic for season three. The Office also had a slow start to its seasons, but it slowly but surely worked its ways back after the WGA strike, and I'm really excited to see where the writers take Amy Ryan's character next season. Life on Mars seems like a lot could go wrong, but I'm trusting the pedigree and the early, extremely positive buzz on the show.

Fridays: With Friday Night Lights benched until Winter on NBC, nothing much of note on any of the networks, aside from Crusoe. But relegating it to Friday seems to be the first sign that its not as good as it seems.

Sundays: Pretty similar to the last two years Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters will hold my attention after fantastic ends to their latest seasons.

Mid-season shows: There's the obvious Lost, which after season 4, cemented itself as the best show on broadcast television for at least the last ten years. Reaper started its first season with such promise, but quickly devolved into redundant demon-of-the-week storylines, before turning the sinking ship back around and digging deeply into the show's mythos to end it's first season. Captain Cook's Extraordinary Atlas, from all reports sounds like a fun fantasy show with an original premise. Cupid, of course, is highly anticipated, and from the pilot script, just as good as the original series with Jeremy Piven and Paula Marshall.

Finally Dollhouse looks like a fun series from Joss Whedon. I'm one of those weird people that never liked Buffy (it was too cheesy, and too drowned in character melodrama (and yes, I made it through three season)), but I loved Firefly, so I'm optimistic that Dollhouse is more in line with the latter.

Overall, a lot of television for me to watch this Fall, with most of my excitement coming from my returning shows, more than for any new ones. Come mid-season, though, it might be a different story....

[sir clinksalot]

Mr. Ness, the more I see about Fringe, the more I'm thinking I may have to add it to my list.

[TraceCub]

Originally Posted by AlexLoup

Life on Mars... are they kidding?

I'm dying inside.

If the original shows are good enough to be worth knocking off, why don't they just work out a deal to show us the REAL one?

This'll be what we're watching this season:
Knight Rider
Deal or No Deal
Survivor
Supernatural
Crusoe

So glad I only have to watch three days out of the week!

[AlexLoup]

Originally Posted by TraceCub

If the original shows are good enough to be worth knocking off, why don't they just work out a deal to show us the REAL one?

Cause heaven forbid we show something that doesn't take place in America. There's no John Simm. I'm going to be comparing and complaining.

[DisneyPrincess4590]

Monday:
Gossip Girl (CW)

Tuesday:
The Secret Life of the American Teenager (ABC Family)
Greek (ABC Family)

Thursday:
Ugly Betty
Grey's Anatomy

Sunday:
Desperate Housewives

[SummerInFL]

Thanks Gregg! I can use this to print out my Fall TV Lineup. My choices are below. The New Shows I have listed are ones I'm going to give a try. The only one so far Im looking forward to most is Fringe because I loved Alias and its being penned by the same writers.

Honestly, if it wasn't for DVR I'd never watch TV. LOL

Wait a minute, where's Lost?

ABC Fall 2008 TV Schedule:
Monday
8:00: Dancing with the Stars (Sept 22nd)
9:30: Samantha Who (Oct 6th)
Tuesday
9:00: Dancing with the Stars Results Show (Sept 30th)
Wednesday
8:00: Pushing Daisies (Oct 1st)
9:00: Private Practice (Oct 1st)
Thursday
8:00: Ugly Betty (Sept 25th)
9:00: Grey’s Anatomy (Sept 25th)

CBS Fall 2008 TV Schedule:
Monday
8:00: Big Bang Theory (Sept 22nd)
9:30: Worst Week – New Show (Sept 22nd)
Wednesday
10:00: 11th Hour – New Show (Oct 9th)
Friday
8:00: Ghost Whisperer (Oct 3rd)
9:00: The Ex-List – New Show (Oct 3rd) - I dont think I'll like this but Im giving it one try.

NBC Fall 2008 TV Schedule:
Monday
8:00: Chuck (Sept 29th)
9:00: Heroes (Sept 22nd)
10:00: My Own Worst Enemy – New Show (Oct 13th) Christian Slater - I've always had a geek crush on him, the show looks interesting, depends on what direction they take it.
Thursday
8:00: My Name is Earl (Sept 25th)

FOX Fall 2008 TV Schedule:
Tuesday
8:00: House (Sept 16th)
9:00: Fringe – New Show (Sept 9th)
Wednesday
8:00: Bones (Sept 3rd)
9:30: Do Not Disturb – New Show (Sept 10th)
Thursday
9:00: Kitchen Nightmares (Sept 4th)

CW Fall 2008 TV Schedule:
Wednesday
8:00: America’s Next Top Model (Sept 3rd)
Thursday
9:00: Supernatural (Sept 18th)

[BuzzedLightyear]

I'm really excited for the return of the fall season - especially for Dirty Sexy Money, Pushing Daisies, and Eli Stone. I have seen a lot of the new pilots across networks and nothing has really caught my attention though the rework of Life on Mars with the additions of Michael Imperioli and Harvey Keitel looks to be amazing and I'm highly anticipating it. Other than that looking forward to how I met your Mother and 30 Rock mostly.

Heroes will be good if it returns to season 1 quality.

[BuzzedLightyear]

If you're TV fans, you should check out ABC's insider community. There's a lot of great content there - sometimes premieres etc before air. pretty cool though...

http://www.abcinnercircle.com/join

[Craigroy8287]

Entourage 09/07/08 season 5. Best show ever

[SummerInFL]

Originally Posted by BuzzedLightyear

If you're TV fans, you should check out ABC's insider community. There's a lot of great content there - sometimes premieres etc before air. pretty cool though...

http://www.abcinnercircle.com/join

I love stuff like this! Thanks for the link.

[DisneyGal]

The Office! They left us hanging last season so I'm excited to see what happens.

[pixie chick]

ABC Fall 2008 TV Schedule:
Monday
9:30: Samantha Who (Oct 6th)- I've wanted to watch, but never had the time

Wednesday
8:00: Pushing Daisies (Oct 1st)- See above

CBS Fall 2008 TV Schedule:
Monday
9:00: Two and a Half Men (Sept 22nd)- Love this show whenever I can catch it

Tuesday
9:00: The Mentalist – New Show - (Sept 23rd)- Interesting premise...

10:00: Without a Trace (Sept 23rd)- I always try to catch this one

Friday
8:00: Ghost Whisperer (Oct 3rd)- Guilty pleasure, but Friday nights are always bad. I don't get to see it often.

NBC Fall 2008 TV Schedule:
Monday
8:00: Chuck (Sept 29th)- Only saw the first couple of episodes, but I thought it was cute.

Thursday
8:30: Kath and Kim – New Show (Sept 25th)- This looks hilarious!

9:00: The Office (Sept 25th)- Need to try to catch this one.

9:30: SNL Thursday Night (Oct 9th to Oct 23rd)- Primetime SNL is always iffy, but I'll probably keep it on if I can.

FOX Fall 2008 TV Schedule:
Monday
9:00: Prison Break (Sept 1st)- Another one I want to see from the beginning. I need to get the DVD's.

Tuesday
9:00: Fringe – New Show (Sept 9th)- This is the one I'm most excited for! I hope it delivers!!

[Rocker]

I would love to watch "Pushing Daisies"- I've only seen one episode, but I'd love to see more.

[Aladdin]

SNL on Thursday nights for a half hour?????
only in October? Oh, it must be some political skits.